Call for artists to produce posters based on quotes from Aneurin Bevan.

Part of Keep Gloucestershire’s NHS Public’s “NHS 70 Stroud” events

Crowdfunder has raised £496 from 20 people so far

The NHS was founded on 5th July 1948 and members of the Keep Gloucestershire’s NHS Public campaign are kicking off their series of 70th anniversary celebration events with a call to artists to contribute to an exhibition at the Lansdown Gallery from Monday 25th – Saturday 30th June.

The campaigners are asking artists to create a poster based on one of seven quotes from Aneurin Bevan about the principles of the NHS (the quotes and more information are available at NHS70Stroud.wordpress.com/call-to-artists). The works will accompany a photographic exhibition by Marion Macalpine on Private Finance Initiatives or PFI, called “How Come We’re Still Paying For This?”), as well as historic local images, and will then be submitted to The World Transformed Festival in Liverpool in September.

An opening night for the exhibition at Lansdown Gallery on Monday 25th June from 6-9pm will feature Helen Mercer, a recently retired as a Senior Lecturer in Economics at Greenwich University and founding member of People vs PFI, speaking about how to solve the problems PFI is causing in the NHS. The event, as well as the exhibition, is free entry.

The photographs have been described as a “Brilliant, eye-opener exhibition!” and a “Superb gallery show. Very clear and hard hitting.” More information is available at NHS70Stroud.wordpress.com/exhibition.

The exhibition will be open from 11-5pm daily at the Lansdown Gallery on Lansdown Road from Monday 25th – Saturday 30th June. It forms part of Keep Gloucestershire’s NHS Public’s series of activities to mark the 70th anniversary of the NHS – which include offering transport to a national celebration and demonstration in London on Saturday 30th June, and holding a picnic, party and series of talks in Lansdown Hall and Bank Gardens on the 7th July.

Campaigners with Keep Gloucestershire’s NHS Public launched their programme of activities over the weekend, and copies are now available around Stroud and the rest of the county. The full programme and further information is available at: NHS70Stroud.wordpress.com. The events – which are all free entry – are supported by an online crowdfunder, which has raised £496 from 20 people so far.

Spokesperson for KGNP, James Beecher, said: “We’re really excited to be kicking off our celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the NHS. Bevan’s book ‘In Place of Fear’ is a great piece of work on the founding principles of the NHS which we think are worth reflecting on today – we look forward to seeing contributions from artists to the quotes we’ve picked out”.

One of the quotes from Aneurin Bevan, the Health Minister at the time of the introduction of the NHS, reads: “The essence of a satisfactory health service is that the rich and the poor are treated alike, that poverty is not a disability, and wealth is not advantaged.”

ENDS

Celebrate 70 years of the NHS - help us fund a series of events in Stroud!

Tuesday, 29 May 2018 09:12
administrator

To celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the National Health Service on the 5th July 1948, Keep Gloucestershire’s NHS Public are organising "NHS70Stroud" - a variety of events and activities – and hoping to encourage the residents of Stroud to celebrate and reflect on the principles of the NHS and their value.

We need funding for venue hire, public liability insurance, publicity and display materials, and to cover the expenses of our special guests. We'd also like to pay a film-maker to create a record of the event. Donate via GoFundMe.

We've been lucky enough to to receive some funding already, but have also had a setback with a significant grant being denied. We are keen to run a free event open to all, and we'd be really grateful to anyone who is able to help. We think the 70th anniversary of the NHS is a significant moment for the country and we want to ensure there is a celebration worthy of the occasion. The principles of the NHS - that all should be able to receive health care, and access the treatment they need, free at the point of use, funded by general taxation - are just relevant today as ever. These principles need our support and the 70th anniversary is a great moment to consider their value and commit to improving the NHS. Donate via GoFundMe.

As Aneurin Bevan wrote in his book "In Place of Fear" in 1952:

“Society becomes more wholesome, more serene, and spiritually healthier, if it knows that its citizens have at the back of their consciousness the knowledge that not only themselves, but all their fellows, have access, when ill, to the best that medical skill can provide."

Hands Off Our NHS, Hunt!

PHOTO OPPORTUNITY – banners, placards and a government minister. For further information call James Beecher 07734 058789

Campaigners are preparing to give Jeremy Hunt a Stroud welcome, with the Health Secretary due to visit Stroud Hospital at 1.30pm.

Campaigners from Stroud Against the Cuts, Keep Gloucestershire’s NHS Public and other groups plan to rally at Stroud Hospital from 1pm to greet Hunt with their questions and concerns. Members of the Hands Off Lydney and Dilke hospitals campaign – currently planning legal action against plans to close the hospitals[i] – will also attend. Expressing surprise that Mr Hunt would want to visit Stroud – a town known for successful campaigns to save the local Maternity Unit[ii] and prevent privatisation of community health services[iii] – campaigners say they are keen to ask Hunt about a number of local issues of concern:

-Why are our patient transport ambulances run by private Arriva?

-Why is our 111 service run by private company and Tory donors Care UK?

-Why are the Forest of Dean equivalents of Stroud Hospital – Lydney and Dilke – set to be closed?

“Next month Jeremy Hunt will become the longest serving Health Secretary – there’s no else he can blame for the crisis in the NHS that’s occurring under his watch. Hunt has recently watered down or scrapped targets for timely NHS treatment – thousands of patients in Gloucestershire and hundreds of thousands around the country see their conditions worsen while they wait. Thanks to the ‘Hostile Environment’ in the NHS we’re even seeing people who’ve lived in the country for years told they can’t access the NHS.[iv]”

Chair of Stroud Against the Cuts James Beecher said:

“We’ve had enough Hunt’s lies – the cuts, closures, the privatisation. We don’t want Hunt coming here to pose for photo opportunities and pretending he cares when the reality is that with him as Health Secretary the NHS has experienced its worst ever funding squeeze. Yet at the same time somehow private health providers are receiving more than 4 times more NHS cash than they were a decade ago, with Arriva taking over our local patient transport and Care UK running 111 and Out of Hours care. Hospitals, particularly small hospitals and A&E departments are closing or downgrading as we see in the Forest of Dean and at Cheltenham, and indeed Stroud Hospital’s own Minor Injuries Unit. As NHS services are scaled back, private health firms are swooping in.”

Dispossession film screening & SATC AGM

Friday, 25 May 2018 21:54
administrator

Stroud Against the Cuts' 2018 AGM will be held on Sunday 3rd June from 6.30pm at the Lansdown Hall (GL5 1BB). It will include election of officers, a review of the previous year and overview of our plans for next year.

"Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle explores the agenda behind the neglect, demolition and regeneration of council estates in the U.K. over the past thirty years. The film reveals how individuals and communities are fighting against the state and private developers, as they try to save their homes from demolition, while investigating the decisions that turned a crisis into a tragedy.

Dispossession is the story of people who know that housing is not an expensive luxury, but a fundamental human right."

Videos from the "What's Happening to Our NHS?" conference

Saturday, 17 March 2018 17:09
administrator

Videos from the "What's Happening to Our NHS?" conference organised by Stroud Labour Party recently.

We understand that sadly there were technical issues with the official filming at the conference, but provide links to videos we made through live-streaming to Facebook of the event. Please excuse amateur video and audio skils and the limitations of our equipment - we believe this footage is still useful both for those who could not attend the event and anyone wishing to revisit a session:

4, There are also some quieter videos from the session on the impact of the cuts from the perspective of a clinician in the NHS and on rural areas with Gill George, and on children - with Barbara Potter, which was followed by a panel discussion.